Forward
by ElectricCircuslover
Summary: Shadow's moving up in this world. Shake yo' extremities.


Forward

ElectricCircuslover: Finally got this done. I'm not impressed with it but I just wanted it done and move Shadow ahead with life ^^

Enjoy I guess.

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The Ship of Despair floated in desolate space with the occasional space rock hitting the human-shaped skull ship with massive tentacles in the back of it.

Shadow looked out his window from his room thinking deeply, taking in what Andy had told him about what he should do with his life over the past six years. He stood from his window in his real form with his long spike tail moving back and forth.

His large black metal door opened up and a yellow reptile in a red monk's robe entered the room.

"Master Shadow, Master Andy has docked in the hanger. Do you want him to meet you?" Nostradamus asked in a raspy voice.

Shadow didn't speak at first as he was gathering his thoughts.

"Send him up," the large b-x commanded.

"Yes, Master Shadow," the yellow lizard said, leaving the room.

Shadow took a deep breath and waited for his older brother, Andy, to come and make his presence.

"And all the pressure that's been building up, for all the years it bore the load. The cracks appear, the frame starts to distort. Ready to explode. Jawbreaker," the large imitation born Experiment sang quietly to himself.

The door opened up again and in walked in Nostradamus and Andy in his Galactic Alliance uniform.

"Thanks Dom, I can take it from here," Andy thanked Nostradamus as he approached his younger brother.

"Yes Master Andy," Dom said before closing the door behind him.

"So Shadow, I hear that you've been releasing a lot of your prisoners by the excessive amount of reports I had to go through at my desk. All of these reports go into great detail about your torture methods in this ship. I am ashamed to be related to a guy who has done these cruel punishments to anyone even if they did do bad things. However, if you're releasing these people then redemption is very near, you know that? I won't be satisfied until you release them all, Shadow. This is improvement and a sheer sign that my words are finally sinking in. Tell me, Shadow…What made you listen to me?" Andy inquired, hopping onto Shadow's large red bed.

"I can't handle it any more, Andy. I can't live my whole life hating and being angry. I feel like I'm dissolving inside into something else. If you truly believe that things will be better if I listen to you then I'll change. But if I do, I want to be left alone. I'm not one for company, Andy," Shadow said, sitting down on the bed next to Andy.

"Contact isn't too important but don't you think it's necessary to make friends and spend your life with them?"

"No," Shadow bluntly told him.

"What about Gloria? When I go back to Earth she always asks about you. She really likes you Shadow. Gloria could use some company. She really doesn't have a solid home right now. She's mostly sleeping in Richter's fruit pub when Gloria isn't a bouncer at that place. I would love it if she had a real home, you know? Even if it's a small place with you it would make a big difference in her life and it would make me sleep easier at night knowing she's got a real home. You don't' have to love her back but I would like it if you helped her out or something. The other Experiments don't want to lift a finger for anyone else anymore. I've been tempted into even letting her live with me but Carma wouldn't like that. I can't have her live in my 'Metal Command' because I already have two people living in it. So I'm a bit booked right now," Andy asked.

"No, Andy. I don't care. This is about me and my future. If someone wants to be included in it I'll do it myself. I don't want to fall in love either. After what Sparkle did to me I don't need a relationship with anyone," Shadow growled.

"What Sparkle and Stitchie did was wrong. We get that, Shadow. You've explain to me full detail so many times I could write a tragic novel about love, betrayal, and pain. We get it," Andy complained, "Look, not all the women in the world are like Sparkle. Give Gloria a chance. She really likes you, Shadow. The best you could do is talk to her or make her a home with your powers or whatever. It breaks my heart to see such a lovely Experiment get the scraps in life. Especially, when everyone is too worried about making enough money to get drunk off my wife and her mother's fruit. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow or even the next day but please brother I'm begging you help her out. I make a lot of money but there's only so much I can give and my Carma may develop a low tolerance to helping others with money. It's bad enough that my ship, The Metal Command has a female Experiment and another alien life form living in it. Lilo, K'lina, mom, and dad has all preached to us growing up about helping our fellow family members and I do my part in the Experiment community. But, you and Stitchie don't even try to help anyone out in our family, and that bothers me. I can't help feel that you two care more about getting back at one another than caring about the values mom taught us. What's it going to be, Shadow?"

Shadow growled and got off the bed, "You expect me to change in three hundred – sixty degrees. It takes time Andy. I've done a lot over the past month. One those are absorbing all my Personalities but Nostradamus and Shade, while the other was slowly letting out my prisoners. That is more than enough for a short amount of time. The next move is to talk to Stitchie and settle our differences once and for all. I cannot guarantee that everything is going to work in your favor, brother. But if I can settle the bullshit between Stitchie and I then what you two say will determine what the Council might decide. It's not like they can do anything to stop me. The best thing they can do is exile me. But, after all the damage I've done I'll probably get life in prison. There isn't a speck of a chance they can keep me in jail. I think I've made my point to the council that I can't be contained by my actions. That works in my favor, Andy."

"No, I'm not going to let you break the law and I sure hell won't bend it for anyone either. If you do get jail let me talk to the Grand Council Man behind closed doors and maybe with Stitchie too. Maybe you could work for the Galactic Alliance as a punishment instead of jail but it might take a little bit of time. Just don't hurt anyone in the mean time. I want to help you Shadow and hurting the other inmates will only make it harder for me to do that for you. I'm well aware that, even you're not a real Experiment, you still have a temper of one and the last thing I want is a bloodbath on that prison asteroid. We'll see, Shadow," Andy frowned, looked at Shadow who started looking out the window.

"Andy I don't want to work for the alliance. The reason why I left in the first place was because the criminals I caught were let go a few days later due to lack of evidence. It sucks that I have this ability to see into people's minds and can't use it as tangible evidence. Plus, I didn't agree with the alliance on how lawbreakers were punished and the length of time a sentence was. That's why I went freelance. All and all I did it for mother. I wanted the world to be safe for her," the black b –x turned around, facing Andy.

"Mom was very happy for you when you got that job, Shadow. If I told her what you really do she wouldn't be able to function knowing her little boy is a cold blooded murder-" Andy was interrupted when Shadow quickly grabbed him by the throat.

"I'm not a murderer. I don't murder in cold blood. The only time I kill is when someone deserves it. The world is blinded by death and I'm only punishing those who do it in malice. Nothing more and nothing less. You can write that down on a piece of paper and shove it up your ass, Andy," Shadow let loosened his grip and let go of Andy, "I'm sorry… I think we've talked enough," Shadow apologized.

Andy gasped for air, choking as he was regaining his normal breathing, "Yeah, well, that temper of yours is going to cause a lot of trouble. I suggest you keep better control of it if you ever want to fix the mistakes you have made," the Angel replica warned.

"Noted."

"I'm serious, Shadow. It's hard to help someone who lets their anger dominate their actions. You're not a three year old anymore so I expect better from you. I also want the rest of these prisoners and the bodies off of this ship and I expect it asap. I'll leave you alone to think on that. I'm happy with what you are doing, Shadow, but I would be even happier if you continue with this change of heart. Contact me when you've released them all if you can," Andy said as he was starting to leave.

"So it be, brother…" Shadow grumbled, turning into smoke and disappearing.

(Stitchie's office)

A Stitch-replica with three arms looked through a large stack of paper while smoking a cigar at his desk. His room was a somewhat large with many cabinets and shelves surrounding the room. He had pictures of his family, days in Galactic Alliance Militia, and land marks from other planets with medals and ribbons next to the pictures. The desk sat in the middle of the small room facing an elevator and security camera near the ceiling on the right corner. The desk was perfect size for the captain to do his work, as he had enough space to put unfinished reports in folders that he decided what actions the alliance should take in the case. There were a few sculptures his kids made in school on his desk and pictures of his families on the desk. The captain of the Galactic Alliance wore a black red uniform with a fat line blue line coming down from his right shoulder down to his lower left hip. It had three sleeves with the bottom right sleeve missing from the uniform. His pants were black with a red thunder bolt shape on the outside of his legs.

Stitchie breathed in the contents of his cigar and expelled a puff of smoke as he took a brief moment to relax before looking at another report from the stack. He carefully read the report and shook his head in grief as this report was about a Hunso-Creptian having his brain supper stolen by an insectoid race known as the Varmeer during a uburnium fill-up station.

"What are those jerk offs in the lower levels doing down there?" Stitchie growled, breathing in another more smoke into his body, "I'm supposed to deal with major conflicts in the galaxy and deciding what course of action has to be taken. If it was up to me, I'd put all those Hunso-Creptian shambled freaks in one massive ship and just blow it up. Brain stolen by some insect? Give me a break," he put the paper on a small pile of papers with a stamp on it, 'Return to Sender' and puffed out more smoke.

Suddenly, the smoke his cigar made a large black formation. It grew and grew as lightning shot out and hit the camera, breaking it before having it fall off, and papers whipped around from the wind. The smoke vanished and was replaced by a large black large nine foot reptile with an alligator head, red pupiless eyes and horns on his head that had four smaller spikes sprouting out and curving upwards. His body was torn up to the point his rotted black heart could be seen. What was left of his body had large lethal spikes with glowing and fading red bands near the tip and red pupiless eyes between each spike. The creature's six arms were crossed with a rib bone spike between each arm moved and curved to face the captain of the Galactic Armada. His feet were like a three toed tyrannosaurus and his long tail whipped around as the five spikes on the tip clicked and clanked against the metal floor.

"Shadow…" Stitchie dropped his cigar, pulled out his plasma pistol, and quickly fired a shot at Shadow's heart, destroying the organ even further than it already was.

"I'm dead, brother. Been dead for three or four years now. Your insignificant weapons are useless against me," Shadow said in his deep voice, growling deeply.

"I will kill you some way, Shadow. Even if I put my last bit of energy into it! I will kill you!" Stitchie hopped on the desk, knocking the paper stack over.

The born Experiment fired a few more rounds of green plasma at Shadow but they only burned more flesh from his reptilian body.

Suddenly, Stitchie was flung back by an invisible force and was strapped to his chair with vines with thorns on it. He tried to use his super strength but they were deceptively too strong to keep him from moving.

"Good, now I can get some cooperation from you," Shadow walked up the desk, staring down at his oldest sibling, who he despised with all his heart for what was done to him as a teen, "I've come to bargain with you and to say that I've moved on. We both did things that we regret and I've come to show you that I can move on. You want your arm back?" The black B-X said, materializing Stitchie's lower right arm in a capsule, "Take it and have Jumba sew it back on or something. I know you've been wanting it for so many years now. I'm giving you the opportunity to fix the wrongs that we both have done and settle our differences once and for all," he pushed the capsule in front of Stitchie.

"What about my familie's infertility curse you brought on to wife and kids? Will you make it go away?" Stitchie in a serious tone asked, feeling the restraints lift from his arms.

"I will not lift the curse with Sparkle but your children I will. Sparkle's treachery is what broke me down into what I become, as well, the abuse you inflicted to me. What I want in return is you and Andy to talk to the council and arrange a hearing. I'll turn myself in and in return the charges on me will lead to my exile on any planet I want. You know they can't keep me in jail and I'm already dead so they can't execute me. I'm also sure they wouldn't mandatorily have me work for the alliance unless they are stupid to give a convict a gun. You and Andy are the only ones that can convince that Priasa in my favor. So, what's it going to be, Stitchie?" Shadow glared.

"I will speak to the grand council man with Andy behind closed doors and reach an agreement but I want you to fix Sparkle. If you say you want to move on you would've released her from your magic, or power, or whatever thing you have in efforts to prove to me that you've changed," Stitchie crossed his arms.

Shadow didn't answer. He stood in silence as black smoke poured out of his spikes all over his body. He really didn't want to give into such a demand as he still felt that anger towards his ex girlfriend but he knew Stitchie wouldn't help unless he did it.

The large reptile snapped his finger on his top right hand, "Done. "

"Well then, Shadow. I will talk to the grand council man then. If this pans out, I don't want you anywhere near my family unless mom calls us all together for an activity. I'll keep a close eye on you. I'm sure Andy will think of a way to give mom ideas for such thing. Keep your distance from me above all else," the Stitch-replica.

"I gladly will," Shadow turned into black smoke and vanished.

The room turned black and Stitchie's eyes opened up with his black eyes gazing at his blue furry arm a glass container. Everything in the room never changed before Shadow's entry. Stitchie shook his head and lit another cigar as the one previously before the encounter burned out. The Stitch-like replica closed his eyes and started relaxing in his chair, thinking deeply to himself. He didn't relax long as the elevator doors opened and Andy walked in.

"I see Shadow has been here by seeing your arm on your desk. What did you two discuss?" the pink b-x inquired, keeping his distance from the smoke.

"Shadow and I came to a small agreement. He makes my family fertile again and I help him with the grand council. He even threw in giving my arm back. Should've put it on me instead of going though surgery to put it back on. Probably would've put my arm backward or something," Stitchie growled, puffing out more smoke.

"Be thankful he even showed up in the first place. I've been trying to get him to change for five years now. He's also letting the people he has imprisoned free and releasing corpses to the BDI's front door. Literally the front door to the Bureau of the Deceased and Investigations and I got a claim from numerous reports of those bodies smelling up the area. Shadow has a sick sense of humor but at least he's changing for the good. I'm proud of him really and with your help we could somehow build a better future. The three of us hanging out and having get togethers and cook outs. Dad's been dying for a hotdog on the grill. My only thing I ask of you Stitchie is to share this vision with me and be a family once again. Put both your hatred aside and live life the way it was meant to be," Andy said, blowing the smoke away from him.

"You need to live in the real world for a day and forget all the good things that the three of us had. Those days are over. I've grown up, I've got the best job the alliance can hand to me, I'm getting thousands of credits an hour and you do the dollar and credit conversion that's two thousand dollars per hour. Could be more if the planet wasn't poor as dirt. But you know, money or anything from Earth could be worth a lot of credits. I bought a base ball few days ago from the pawn shop and sold it for a few hundred credits at the trade in station. That is because Earth is still an unknown planet reserved by humans, as they are still a bottom of the sentient species chain in this galaxy. The galactic alliance only wants peace to any being on any planet of galactic space. To be quite frank, landing a spaceship in the middle of a town would only bring worldwide panic. Thankfully high profile ships in the alliance comes with cloaks. I could go on about this. Humans are stupid and insignificant to me. The only reason why I live on that planet I still have an attachment to mom, and second, we grew up with a human family. To me Experiments shouldn't live like second class citizens or seen as mutated animals. We should take over Earth someday. One of these days we are going to rise up and take charge. I can see myself being president or overseer of the people of Earth," Stitchie chuckled.

Andy rolled his eyes, "Some imagination, Stitchie. Anyways, we should contact the grand council man and tell him the news. I can already imagine my desk being buried under reports right now; as those people in Shadow's ship were released over the past several hours I bet. Just means over time for me," he sighed, waiting at the elevator door.

"Let me finish this smoke. I'll meet you at the grand council man's chambers," Andy's older brother waved, coughing on his cigar.

The pink b-x sighed again before pressing the button to the elevator and left.

Stitchie laughed and started relaxing in his chair, "The good days are dead, Andy. I just wish you could just accept that," he breathed in more smoke and puffed it back out.

(Three days later)

The seemingly endless room of ambassadors of different planet in the galaxy all sat down in their chairs. They all looked accusingly to the large black reptile in cuffs being brought on a floating platform. It stopped, facing the grand council man and the higher powered members in the council.

The grand council man was a Priasa like the previous grand council woman but was much wider and stronger looking than his predecessor. He was tall and had a medium build with darker green skin. His clothes were black with a red line going down the side and he wore the grand council accessory to show that he was the leader of the council. The grand council man wasn't much taller than the grand council lady but he was much wider than her.

"Read the charges," he commanded, staring down at Shadow with wrath.

"Shadow Aaron Petals, you are accused of treason, murder, kidnapping, cruel and unusual punishments, and acts of war against the Galactic Armada. How do you plead?" Stitchie read the paper, following orders.

Shadow smiled, "I plead guilty of all charges brought on to me."

The Grand Council man raised an eyebrow, "After all the years of eluding the Galactic Alliance why have you turned yourself in? I admire your honesty and the fact you saved Provolo from Shade but it doesn't grant you immunity from the crimes you have committed. From what I was told, you wanted exile as a punishment. Am I correct?"

"Yes grand council man. I want to be banished to Earth as a sentence. There isn't any place I want to go but back to Earth. Space doesn't interest me and neither do any other planets. I have no purpose in living anywhere else. Everywhere I go, fear will follow me. Earth is the only place that doesn't know my existence or the crimes that I have committed. It's also the only place I know I won't leave as there isn't anywhere to go. If am exiled to Earth, I won't be heard from again," Shadow said in a deep voice.

"What of Shade? What are we supposed to do about him? You're the only one that seems to know how to handle him. He doesn't seem to cause very much damage to each individual planet but one attack is more than enough for any race to handle. How are you to solve this matter?" A robot be with a football-shaped head, beady little eyes and short body with long arms piped up.

"There isn't anything I can do about Shade. I can't detect him like the other split personalities of myself. There is no connection between him and I. Shade fears me and is a coward. He knows that attacking populated planets will only draw him out of hiding, therefore, he keeps traveling to planet to planet causing minimum damage so I don't know about it. I hear and see many things during the day. I see people dying or baby's being born. But, If I see a lot of lives taken then I investigate it. I have no explanation of how my powers work or how I'm able to function with such abilities. What I see in my mind I can do. I manipulate the fabric of reality and bend it to my will. It doesn't mean I can do absolutely everything, sir. Shade is a much weaker version of me and therefore will hide so he doesn't draw my full attention to him. If I know any better he would be hiding in most barren planets. That I don't know about. I've been searching for him since the Provolo Incident. That is all I can say," The large black b-x replied.

"Whatever the matter you are involved in still means to be punished by the council. If you truly believe exile is the only punishment you can receive then you're probably right. We could exile you on a desert asteroid but there is no way we could stop you from leaving it. The power you showed me on Provolo cannot be contained by a prison cell. While the reports from Commander Andy say that you are immune to conventional methods or our technological advancements to our weapons, we are unable to execute you for the treason. If you truly say you will stay on Earth for exile it so be it. However, I'm ordering Commander Andy to keep an eye on you and give us reports on your activities no matter how meaningless they are. I don't fully trust you, nor does the council but beings you brought yourself in and released your prisoners to us than there has to be some truth in what you say. Take note," The grand council man ordered, "Shadow Aaron Petals will be sentenced to exile on Earth where he will be monitored by Commander Andy. This meeting is adjourned," he commanded.

"Thank you, grand council man," Shadow bowed as he was taken away.

(Hour later)

Shadow traveled back to Earth, happy to with the results. He cut down some trees and used his powers to build a black house. It was a small house with no windows. Taking a deep breath, he entered his new home in his Experiment form in the jungle. The house's interior was deceptively large. On the right of the entrance was an empty living room with lots of space. On the right were stares leading up. Straight ahead lead to the kitchen with a counter in the middle. The room was bare like the living room.

He walked through the walkway to a black door at the back of the kitchen. Opening the door, Shadow walked down the stairs into the dark abyss. He materialized a lamp and set it on the ceiling, which somehow lit the small room with rock walls. The Ship of Despair formed in Shadow's large hand and out came out two black clouds of smoke. The black smoke formed Nostradamus and a large black blob of meat with tentacles, spikes, and eyes surrounding it. It looked like a large lump of mass tissue.

"God I look ugly," Shadow shook his head in grief.

"You look fine, Master Shadow. Maybe you need…I can't think of anything. Sorry, Master Shadow," Dom tried to speak but he shook in fear instead.

"Let's go. I will show you the rest of the house we will be living in," B-X 0-0-5 said walking up the stairs with Dom following.

They walked up the narrow stairway and into the kitchen, closing the door behind them, "This is the kitchen. I have some food still in the Ship of Despair still you can eat. Maybe I'll have Jumba make me some appliances or something assuming he doesn't greet me with more needles," he said but in a lower tone of voice he mumbled, 'It isn't like he can mutate me any further than I am now."

Both Personalities walked down the spacious walkway and stopped in the empty living room with red carpet, "Eventually this room will have some furniture, a stereo system, and a television. Haven't watched television since I moved out. You'll enjoy it, Nostradamus," Shadow smiled, walking up the stairs with Dom following.

"I will enjoy it, Master Shadow. He, he," Dom laughed nervously.

They walked up the narrow stairs leading up to a short hallway with black carpeting. There were only three doors in the in the narrow walkway. Two doors on the right, with a lot of space between them and the third door stood in the middle in the end of the hallway. Opening the first door, Dom and Shadow entered the spacious empty room with blue walls.

"This is your room, Nostradamus. I'll make you a better bed then the one you've used in The Ship of Despair. It would be a big improvement and you'll have a window to look at as well," Shadow pointed to the window.

"Thank you, Master Shadow. I will certainly spend my time reading in this room. I am very happy to have more space," Nostradamus thanked looking at the room with awe in his eyes.

"You're my only friend. I'm going to give you the best I can offer," Shadow smiled, leaving the room with Dom following.

Walking a short way to the next door, the next room was a small bathroom that had a short sink with mirror, toilet, and a walk-in shower.

"The bathroom to shower up and such. It isn't fancy but we don't need fancy things to keep clean. Water comes from Planet Ionta through a wormhole the pipes are going through within the house. Love my powers, Dom," Shadow chucked, hopping onto the sink to look at his reflection which was only a blob of meat with red eyes and spikes, "This mirror opens up so we can put the toothpaste."

Dom nodded his head and followed Shadow out the door after closing the mirror and hopping off the sink. They travelled to the end of the hallway and opened the door, finding a large empty room, "This is my room. I'll probably be spending a lot of time in here or in the cellar. I'll try to do things with you when I feel up to it but I right now there isn't anything to do. I feel much happier that I'm back home on Earth. Nice to see some of the Hawaiian sun and fresh air even though I can't feel, touch, or smell, but I can see so it isn't all bad. I'm so glad to move on forward with life."

"Yes… Me too Master Shadow," Dom smiled.


End file.
